Early this month, USA Today reported that there were several signs that the job market was looking up. The number of temp workers is on the rise; the number of hours worked was steady; and the number of people entering the work force was ticking upward, the paper reported, citing data from the U.S. Labor Department.
Last week, though, several media outlets countered that the number of new unemployment claims had climbed to 439,000 during the first week of July; and economists say that if the job market were improving, the jobless claims number would be heading below 400,000.
After painstaking analysis of the data, Headcount concludes that the job market is just plain weird. And with that, we'll review some of the past week's most interesting hirings and firings:
Prior to AcceLight, Fultz had been in the chief's chair at Zaffire, which was sold to Centerpoint Broadband Technologies Inc., and Scion Photonics, which was sold to JDS Uniphase Corp. (see Fultz Joins AcceLight as CEO, Scion Picks Fultz, and Zaffire Names New CEO). Fun fact: Each of Fultz's last three jobs have lasted less than two years, and each has ended with the companies either being acquired or going under.
Before the layoff, Agility's chief operating officer Jim Haynes left to pursue other interests, the spokesperson says. Haynes joined Agility in January 2001 after a 17-year career at Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE/Toronto: NT).
Also leaving Agility in June was Arlon Martin, the company's VP of marketing. Arlon had been with Agility since May 2000, a job he took after winding up his time at Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) (see Arlon Martin, from Lucent to Agility). In January, Agility lost its chief financial officer, but the company filled the position internally within a couple of months (see Headcount: I'll Strike if You Fire Me!).
"For the time being I'm going to be limiting my involvement in the ever changing telecoms industry to occasional consulting work," Brearton writes.
Sycamore hasn't named a replacement for Brearton. A spokesman tells Light Reading that her duties are being handled by other executives in the company.
The company had been spread across two sites -- 261 West Renner Road and 251 West Renner Road in Richardson, Texas -- while subleasing some of the space to another company. But Chiaro is smaller now, and its tenants have split, so the company can now inhabit a single building -- the 251 address.
"By the way, need any office space in Richardson?" Parker asks in an email. Office space? In Richardson? Headcount wonders if Parker would have an easier time selling a double bed to the Pope.
Here's a summary of more appointments, disappointments, and other work-related news from the past several days:
- Verizon Hits Rocky Road
- Broadcom Names Sales VP
- PhotonEx Hires Government Guru
- Xanoptix Hatches Hybrid Strategy
- The Lemur Is Growing
- Lucent Adds to Board
- ADVA Opens Austrian Office
- Cisco Goes to Mass.
- Santel Has Left the (Telecom) Building
- TeraCross Shuts Down
— Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading
http://www.michaelfox.com/us/s...
-Dr.Q